Do you encourage them, consider them and ask them?

I was leading a small team in a culturally diverse city in the U.S. when two of my employees asked why all the titled leaders on our leadership team were white.

I was raised in a part of the country that was not culturally diverse, today – nearly a decade after their question 89% of the population in my home state is white and 95% of the county that surrounded the town I grew up in was white. As a result, it was a question I didn’t see coming and one I did not have a good answer for.

Two weeks ago my husband and I took a vacation to Africa. On the plane I read Nelson Mandela’s book The Long Walk to Freedom, deeply considering how a wide variety of good and bad experiences changed his perspective, caused him to seek truth, ponder deeply, and shaped the man he would become. At several places in his story I thought of different struggles that others have faced that have taken them to their knees and challenged their perspectives and then changed their futures. In the midst of those reflections I wrote these words…

Would you say yes, if you knew:

That great risk would lead to a greater reward?

That a job loss would lead to a new career in a new industry?

That a heartbreaking betrayal would make you softer and stronger and wiser?

Several years ago I was in a role that was getting busier and busier. As the demands and distractions poured in I began to feel less energized and lose my focus.

And as my focus shifted, so did the focus of the entire team that I supported. With no corporate retreats in our future we needed to figure out how to refocus and recharge.

1. Create an EXPERIENCE:

I brought some tiny matchbox cars to a meeting and asked everyone to take a car and personalize it.

Then I gave them a bunch of foot-long crepe paper streamers and asked them to use a streamer to list one thing that was causing them to lose focus. (And they could use as many streamers as they needed to.)

There were so many that the streamers quickly covered the cars and we talked about how hard it is to drive forward when you feel so covered up that can’t see the people you are working with, let alone where you are going.

Then I brought out a rocket. (The kind you buy in a toystore that you can actually launch.) The rocket was “beautifully decorated” with each of our objectives, and we talked about how looking up and focusing on where we were going could help us prioritize the demands and distractions, decrease our confusion and stress and increase our focus and results.

And yes – when we achieved all of our objectives we drove to a field and shot off that rocket!

I spend several hours each week helping my young neighbors improve their English. Last week one of the girls brought a library book that she had chosen for a book report.

She chose the book because it was short – not because of the content. It was a book about an all black baseball team in the 1940’s in America. (A land and a time she can’t relate to.) …So as she read the book I had a lot of explaining to do.

And that opened the door to talk about how racism and perceptions impact individuals and our world.

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Chery Gegelman, Speaker & Facilitator

My class found your information insightful and especially helpful in processing their experience. They all mentioned that their future planning will include your wisdom and they stated that their newfound awareness of the natural processes you outlined will help them retain their positions, maximize their outcomes, and offer support to those in their circle of care.

Chery went above and beyond for us and our students. Her presentation captivated our students and teachers. (While sharing personal experiences and current information about life in Saudi Arabia, she emphasized critical life skills. Which motivated them to consider the limits of their comfort zones, think critically, solve problems and recognize the humanity of others.) Chery is a pleasure to work with and a great facilitator. I give her my highest endorsement.

Chery is a smart, kind, brilliant, clever, charismatic, and adaptive business professional.
She is a true servant leader with unwavering integrity and ethics.
Chery is a progressive and thought-provoking consultant that works collaboratively to grow and guide people, empowering them to practice compassionate accountability; an essential element in competitive sustainability.

Giana Consulting successfully completed a complex study on the establishment of a new training facility for the community college system in our state. It was done on time and on budget and exceeded our expectations. She is a true professional and was a pleasure to work with.

If there is one person who knows how to work a crowd, it’s Chery!
I have had the honor of working with Chery on two leadership events that consisted of panel discussions and Chery served as the wonderful facilitator. Not only was she professional, well-spoken and poised, but her connection with the audience members was outstanding!
I received many compliments from guests after the event about how much they enjoyed her!

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Chery Gegelman Keynote Speaker

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About Chery Gegelman

Hi! I’m Chery,
I deeply believe that:
• Anyone can be a leader.
• Everyone knows something that the rest of us don’t.
• We all need to leave our workplaces, communities, nation and world – better than we found them.
Those beliefs caused me to:
1. Build bridges of communication and understanding between people in different positions, organizations, races, religions, and cultures.
2. Instigate change from every position I’ve ever had and continually provided opportunities to lead system-wide change from the middle and the edge of organizations.
Today I am The Founder of Giana Consulting, listed as a Great Leadership Speaker by Inc., write a recognized leadership blog and have co-authored two leadership books.

Speaking

In her keynotes and workshops, Chery Gegelman takes WILDLY DIVERSE AUDIENCES on Adventures that are filled with curiosity, learning and growth.
Her approach makes it possible for people to face hard issues and work through them in productive ways.
Your audience will know they matter. (And so do the people next to them!)
They’ll be reminded how important their knowledge, experience and perspectives are – and have new reasons to seek out the knowledge, experience and perspectives of others.
And they’ll leave with increased energy, new strategies and the desire to make a greater difference.